What Is The Plural Of “iPhone” & Other Apple Product Names?

We now finally know what the plural of “iPhone” is. You wouldn’t think such a thing would be the subject of a serious debate, but Apple’s senior VP of marketing sure thought it was a question that needed to be answered when he took to Twitter earlier today to officially clear up the rules of iGrammar.

We ourselves, along with many others around the web, commonly pluralize Apple product names. The devices have become such iconic pieces of pop-culture that distorting their branding doesn’t feel unnatural. According to Phil Schiller, though, “one need not pluralize Apple product names.”

So if the plural of iPhone isn’t iPhones and the plural of iPad isn’t iPads, then what is it? As Schiller explains in one of his tweets, plurals work the same way for brand names as they do for nouns such as deer or fish. Another way would be to eliminate the need for pluralization altogether by adding words such as devices after the brand name. So both “two iPhone” and “two iPhone handsets,” “two iPad Pro” and “two iPad Pro devices,” or “five Mac” and “five Mac computers” would qualify as correct usage as per Phil’s dictionary. This comes straight from the horse’s mouth, so it should clear any misconceptions we might have had about brand name usage.

It does make quite a lot of sense, though scouring grammar forums for answers showed us that confusion regarding correct usage of brand names is quite commonplace. In fact, even certain marketing writers and brand designers have had questions on the matter. Well, if there wasn’t a rule before, Phil has come to the rescue with one, at least for his company and its iconic product lineup.

So, the next time you drop by an Apple Store to purchase an iPhone for yourself and a friend, be sure to ask for “two iPhone” or “two iPhone 6s handsets,” and if Phil Schiller’s around, he might reward you with a gold star or something.

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